If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Not at all. They are just the most politically active. They are the most likely to actually do something about it. Look at young white women from 18-24. Would you believe that they are overwhelmingly able to identify as Republican? No?

That's because they typically don't vote. Outspoken, outraged, and ready to change the cause but... they aren't voting. They're just getting into facebook debates and posting stupid slogans and banners, yet in reality, only 65% of those people vote! Talk about wasted energy.

Honestly, don't put words in my mouth. I never said that, and shame on you for making this debate about that. This is why progress will never be made in the US, sadly. The moment you discuss anything anywhere near the line you get automatically accused of being racist.

****, look at this thread with that stupid little kid calling people racist for Spanish people but using backwards hypocrisy to try to make his point. He sincerely believes what he is saying. That is ****ing terrifying to me. I put him on ignore, which puts him squarely in company of... 1. The first time I've ever done that, simply because I can't stand THAT breed of ignorance.

Look, I'll put it in words even you can understand... If you think any hispanic is dumb or lazy for not being able to speak English, then you are being prejudice or racist or hateful or ignorant or *insert your own adjective.*

Why? Because you are not taking into consideration a plethora of variables... like... how long he/she has been in the country or how capable they are of finding an affordable class to learn english, etc.

Crazy I know this is hard for you to imagine... but not every 12 year old gets to go to school... even in the U.S. there are child labor law violations every single day... specially amongst the latino population.

Don't speak ignorantly about things you do not know. I know you feel entitled because you have a "job where you use your logic every day", or whatever nonsense you said, but you apparently don't use that logic when you leave work.

You have no idea what it means to be a hispanic.

You have even less of an idea of what it means to be an immigrant.

And you absolutely have no idea what it means to be a hispanic immigrant or refugee in the United States living in poverty.

You do not know what real life is... you only think you do from your petty and superficial relationships with others... and btw just because you are older than me and you have what you feel is a better position than me socially does not mean you are one bit more knowledgeable or credible than I am. You are pompous and your lack of empathy for anything other than yourself is laughable.

By the way, I am a political scientist who has specialized studying the ethno-diversity and socio-economic progress of south florida extensively, seeing as i did most of my schooling here, but that would only help to further back my facts with credibility and I don't want you feeling like a total douche. Or do I? You know the answer to that.

I bet you are gonna say, how it is possible for a political scientist to be so dumb or ignorant. Save it. I could care less for whatever excuse you have for your racism.

If you think its racist to expect to be able to speak your country's language and be understood, I dont know what to tell you.

Im from a place that has a TON of Haitian immigrants. I have never once seen a Haitian man come to the Bahamas and look for work without trying to learn the basics of English. Some of the women dont know English, but the men learn and all of them put their kids in school when they are old enough. The only reason I know any Creole is simply to joke around with them. Theres no excuse. Anyone can go to school. Most first generation Haitians are making 300 a week if they are lucky and yet their kids are in school and speak fluent english without an accent really by the time they are done.

So yeah, if you think its so hard for Hispanics in Miami, come to the Bahamas unable to speak the language and see how tough it is. You cant speak the language, you aint workin.

Look, I'll put it in words even you can understand... If you think any hispanic is dumb or lazy for not being able to speak English, then you are being prejudice or racist or hateful or ignorant or *insert your own adjective.*

Why? Because you are not taking into consideration a plethora of variables... like... how long he/she has been in the country or how capable they are of finding an affordable class to learn english, etc.

Crazy I know this is hard for you to imagine... but not every 12 year old gets to go to school... even in the U.S. there are child labor law violations every single day... specially amongst the latino population.

Don't speak ignorantly about things you do not know. I know you feel entitled because you have a "job where you use your logic every day", or whatever nonsense you said, but you apparently don't use that logic when you leave work.

You have no idea what it means to be a hispanic.

You have even less of an idea of what it means to be an immigrant.

And you absolutely have no idea what it means to be a hispanic immigrant or refugee in the United States living in poverty.

You do not know what real life is... you only think you do from your petty and superficial relationships with others... and btw just because you are older than me and you have what you feel is a better position than me socially does not mean you are one bit more knowledgeable or credible than I am. You are pompous and your lack of empathy for anything other than yourself is laughable.

By the way, I am a political scientist who has specialized studying the ethno-diversity and socio-economic progress of south florida extensively, seeing as i did most of my schooling here, but that would only help to further back my facts with credibility and I don't want you feeling like a total douche. Or do I? You know the answer to that.

I bet you are gonna say, how it is possible for a political scientist to be so dumb or ignorant. Save it. I could care less for whatever excuse you have for your racism.

You just don't get it and I don't expect you will. I don't need a degree to diagnose the **** I see in my hometown. Maybe if you open your eyes and step out the classroom you will learn a little something yourself.

I'm not rehashing the same rhetoric over and over with you . . . it's clear you have your own agenda and if you feel complete by calling me a racist based on facts that you just don't want to hear, then so be it.

I am a First generation American. Both parents were born in Cuba. Raised in SoFla, in the heart of Miami Beach at 31st and Collins. They came here to seek a better life for themselves and immediately immersed themselves into learing English. Now the problem is most cubans nowadays are unwilling to do this. It is just way to easy to move to little Havana or West Kendall or hell just about anywhere these days and almost never have toget out of your comfort zone. My own grandmother lived in Miami for 40 years and never learned English.

Back when my parents came the DMV test was only n english. I do not even know how many languages it comes in now. I learned both languages growing up, but my parents only spoke in English at home. It was their way to practice. I would say my father probably say that my father has a greater knowledge of the English language then I do.

It is a reasonable assumption to expect people living in the USA to speak English, yet there are and should be acceptions. If you are having trouble finding a job because of the language barrier, take a class and no you should not have to, but imagine how valuable of an employee you will be.

I currently live in Colorado and find that most Mexicans here are the same as the recent influx of Cubans to Miami. A reluctance to learn English especially among the illegals(sorry Undocumented workers). Yet here they are the ones left out, for the most part.

All in all I feel that the language situation is very similar to the education system in this country concerning college. There are certain places and/or industries where in order to be able to earn a good job you must have a degree in that given field, or a degree and know more than one language because companies refuse to hire anyone without that degree.

The world is quickly becoming smaller and in this global marketplace, it only helps you in your future employment prospects to learn a second language. Whether it be English, Spanish or anything else that your given living area requires.

Many people I can see in this thread seem stubborn to that fact. Narrowing it down to Miami, a lot of companies, especially in Miami, deal with clients out of the local market and most of the clients are in fact Latin American. Given that fact, again, it would only help a company to hire employees that can better communicate with its clients in their native language.

I do have the mind set however that any immigrant, to any country, should learn at least a basic understanding of the countries given main language. For example, I wouldn't personally move to Japan and not feel the need to ever learn Japanese. I would find it frustrating to live there and not be able to communicate better with people in my community. One of the first things I would do is try and learn the language so that if anything I would have a leg up on the locals there, job wise, given that now I would know English as well as Japanese instead of just Japanese. I would now have an extra tool to market myself.

At the same time, I am sensitive to the fact that everyone has different situations and there may be exceptions to the rule. If I was in a law enforcement agency that had a jurisdiction of say Chinatown in LA, I would feel the need for not only job prospects but also for safety and other reasons to consider that I should learn Mandarin. Now, yes, I understand we are in the USA and it might be reasonable to expect everyone there to know the English language, but in reality that would not be the case. So either I go forward with my current knowledge and decide that is enough to land me the job and/or helping me move up in that job, or I decide to expand my tools and have a better chance at landing that job and/or move up in that job.

All in all I feel that the language situation is very similar to the education system in this country concerning college. There are certain places and/or industries where in order to be able to earn a good job you must have a degree in that given field, or a degree and know more than one language because companies refuse to hire anyone without that degree.

The world is quickly becoming smaller and in this global marketplace, it only helps you in your future employment prospects to learn a second language. Whether it be English, Spanish or anything else that your given living area requires.

Many people I can see in this thread seem stubborn to that fact. Narrowing it down to Miami, a lot of companies, especially in Miami, deal with clients out of the local market and most of the clients are in fact Latin American. Given that fact, again, it would only help a company to hire employees that can better communicate with its clients in their native language.

I do have the mind set however that any immigrant, to any country, should learn at least a basic understanding of the countries given main language. For example, I wouldn't personally move to Japan and not feel the need to ever learn Japanese. I would find it frustrating to live there and not be able to communicate better with people in my community. One of the first things I would do is try and learn the language so that if anything I would have a leg up on the locals there, job wise, given that now I would know English as well as Japanese instead of just Japanese. I would now have an extra tool to market myself.

At the same time, I am sensitive to the fact that everyone has different situations and there may be exceptions to the rule. If I was in a law enforcement agency that had a jurisdiction of say Chinatown in LA, I would feel the need for not only job prospects but also for safety and other reasons to consider that I should learn Mandarin. Now, yes, I understand we are in the USA and it might be reasonable to expect everyone there to know the English language, but in reality that would not be the case. So either I go forward with my current knowledge and decide that is enough to land me the job and/or helping me move up in that job, or I decide to expand my tools and have a better chance at landing that job and/or move up in that job.

Fun Fact: Japapnese is the hardest language to learn in the world. Even most Japanese adults of wealth and great education do not know all of it because it is so difficult.

Now back to the racism... I agree that immigrants should try to learn the language of where they live, but not everyone can perfect a language in a year, and when you say that any person who doesn't know how to speak english is lazy or any adjective other than "non-english speaking" it is an ignorant statement on your part.

That would be like me, an immigrant who learned Spanish as his native language in a foreign country, saying that white people are stupid or incompetent because most of them usually have a poorer vocabulary than I do, which is true but I don't go around calling white people "incompetent or lazy" or complaining ad nauseum about the "caucasian problem."

I have merely assessed that maybe all the white people that I know are dumb or I simply have a better vocabulary but that doesn't make me assume that all white people are dumb. That would be ludicrous but justifiable under your faulty bigoted logic.

I can picture it now... "Honey! I gotta go back to the store, that dumb white boy at the cash register gave me the wrong type of cigarettes. Damn whites, just because they killed off all of the Indians they think they can live off the fat of the land."

You're a "political scientist"? Now, I won't be an ignorant ass and just jump to conclusions about you (perhaps you can learn from my example?) but what does that have to do with anything? Is this where I lay out my resume? You don't want to get into a pissing contest about who is the most internationally educated, that's a losing battle for you.

1) You have no idea my ethnicity or background. Strike one
2) Your logic is straight up flawed and based on illusory defenses. Strike two.
3) You have no idea what racism is. Strike three.

Stop pretending you know what you're talking about. It's insulting to the rest of us. Seriously.

I don't take kindly to being called a racist. Do me a favor and quote where in this thread I called ANYONE lazy because they were unable to learn English in a year. I'll wait.

Maybe stop adding conditions subsequent to my words and accept them for the context they are in. Hell, if you weren't so lazy yourself, you'd realize I already said what you are trying to say, but in a much better fashion.

Are there racist statements in this thread? Absolutely. You're just lumping everyone in together, myself included, because you don't like the message. Are some of the things being said walking the line of racism yet more along the lines of a societal commentary? Yes. They are. And sadly, it takes true intelligence to understand that.

You're simply copycating what people are saying with regards to their complaints and taking it to the worst extreme. That's intellectually dishonest.

You're a "political scientist"? Now, I won't be an ignorant ass and just jump to conclusions about you (perhaps you can learn from my example?) but what does that have to do with anything? Is this where I lay out my resume? You don't want to get into a pissing contest about who is the most internationally educated, that's a losing battle for you.

1) You have no idea my ethnicity or background. Strike one
2) Your logic is straight up flawed and based on illusory defenses. Strike two.
3) You have no idea what racism is. Strike three.

Stop pretending you know what you're talking about. It's insulting to the rest of us. Seriously.

I don't take kindly to being called a racist. Do me a favor and quote where in this thread I called ANYONE lazy because they were unable to learn English in a year. I'll wait.

Maybe stop adding conditions subsequent to my words and accept them for the context they are in. Hell, if you weren't so lazy yourself, you'd realize I already said what you are trying to say, but in a much better fashion.

Are there racist statements in this thread? Absolutely. You're just lumping everyone in together, myself included, because you don't like the message. Are some of the things being said walking the line of racism yet more along the lines of a societal commentary? Yes. They are. And sadly, it takes true intelligence to understand that.

You're simply copycating what people are saying with regards to their complaints and taking it to the worst extreme. That's intellectually dishonest.

Really? It has everything to do with what this thread is about! My life's work and love is to study the government of the U.S. and it's population and the different dynamics between subgroups when it pertains to voting and almost every thing else. I have had a plethora of classes about South Florida's socioeconomic history and that is basically what we are talking about, the only difference being that you can't seem to assimilate that this specific issue of the latino workforce and their abilty/inability to learn the language goes beyond the surface.

You are getting mad at me because I called you racist. But you have no idea why I am mad? Do you? You don't. Cause you don't care. You just want to regurgitate a million things you've heard a million ignoramuses say over the years.

I have been holding back because it does not behoove me to stoop to your level but for you to say "you're simply copycating what people are saying with regards to their complaints and taking it to the worst extreme. That's intellectually dishonest." is a classic example of what I mean.

I don't even know what to say to you. Intellectually dishonesty? I just... really?

My opinion on what I feel is racist is intellectually dishonest? Hmmm... because I think it is racist to openly criticize, mock, and complain about hispanics working who don't speak english? That means I'm intellectually dishonest.

Hey Crazy, can I ask you a question? Do you think all the people who supported segregation thought or knew they were racists?

Yes, I'm ignorant Crazy, but at least I know it. You don't have to call someone a beaner to be prejudice. It is the implications of everything you have fought so hard to defend here that shows me just how blind you are to how ignorant you are. This time I'm calling you ignorant for literally ignoring my personal beliefs and accusing me of knowingly trying to fool people... fool people about what though? I don't know. That latinos aren't lazy? That we are not dumb? That we are not intellectually dishonest? You tell me because you apparently know best about everything ever.